What is your name and department? My name is Barbara Hoff and I’m a teacher in the English department

Did you teach at any other school or is North your first?
I taught 8th grade for one year at a catholic school at Ohio because that’s where I’m from but after that, iIve taught here for 25 years

How would you describe the way that you teach? I really like to do a lot of research on what I’m teaching. I think a lot about what’s important to understand about the books that we read. And ways in which students can hopefully connect to those. I like to have a balance between having topics and things that are interesting and engaging but I also want to challenge my students academically so that they get better at reading and writing and thinking which I think is important for everybody.

What are some fun things you do in your classes? Well the things I find fun are always the same as my students. There were a couple of students who told me this year that they had fun writing their research papers. That’s the kind of fun I like. But I think it’s fun to talk about topics that are super important, about power and how power plays out in our society and how our identity is impacted by that. To have people think about how that affects them in their own lives and then to think about how that compares to things going on in the characters in the novels we read. So my kind of fun is a little more academic than some people’s fun but I think it’s important. I think literature is fun, that’s why I’m an English teacher.

Who or what inspires you everyday?
I’m really inspired by my students, they come from all different backgrounds and situations and a lot of times, have faced more obstacles than I did when I was a kid. So I always really admire the perseverance that my students have. All the different stories that they bring to our discussions and our engagement with literature. I’ve learned so much throughout the years and brought my own perspective from the students that I teach. So that’s the thing that keeps me coming everyday

What would you like to see more of at north?
I’d like more general student engagement. I just feel like we’ve all become adults who are so addicted to our phones that it’s sad to me. Sometimes in the hallways everyone’s on their phone. In the beginning of class I see everyone on their phone and I like it so much more when we’re engaging face to face.

What do you see yourself doing 10 years from now?
In ten years from now I will be retired and so I will be spending a lot of time reading books for fun and working in my yard and traveling.

What is the most meaningful thing you own? I’m not a very materialistic person so I don’t really think about that so much

What is a valuable thing you’d tell a new teacher?
I guess the thing I was talking about before. Just being open to how much you can learn from your students and realizing, which I didn’t realize this much when I was a new teacher, how different their experiences might be from your own and how much that matters in terms of how you approach things and how it’s important to have that empathy and it’s not just to benefit them but it’s also benefits you

What’s your best memory of teaching at North so far?
I have a lot of good ones, like over the years I just have had so many wonderful students who’ve just really been so proud of the work they’ve done. I think every time I have a student who turns something in I can tell they’re so proud of what they’ve done. Those are the memories that really stick with me. Not just because they want to get an A but they’ve really been engaged and invested in something they do. They come into class excited to talk about what they’ve read and they’re excited to show me what they’ve learned. I think those are the things that just make me happy.